Richmond coach Rob Bowers did not have a good feeling going into Friday night’s game with the Cardinals in Lawson. The Spartans were coming off an exhilarating win at O’Hara, while Lawson was trying to shake off a shutout loss at the defending Class 3 champion Maryville.

The Spartans drew first blood as Dylan Seely returned the opening kickoff 95 yards for a touchdown, but things went downhill from there as Lawson dominated Richmond 42-13.

Bowers and his staff sensed things were not going to go well after a rough final tune-up Thursday.

“We had probably our worst practice ever Thursday,” he said. “We weren’t very focused – it was just awful. It’s been my experience that when you practice like that and you’re young, you just can’t all of the sudden become focused and be where you need to be the next night. I was afraid we were in trouble going into it and we played like it.”

The Spartans could not get anything going on offense as they were limited to 122 rushing yards on 31 carries, and quarterback Quinton Maxwell completed 4 of 9 passes – all to Seely – for 34 yards with one interception. Meanwhile the Lawson offense took advantage of great field position all night long and picked up 251 yards on the ground on 43 carries, and quarterback Garrett Titus completed 7 of 12 passes for 98 yards with a touchdown and an interception.

Following Seely’s kickoff return and Shane Battagler’s extra point boot, the Spartans gave the Cardinals excellent field position with the kick going out of bounds. Lawson shook off the opening Richmond score and got the home crowd back in the game with a 6-play, 62-yard drive. Preston Smidt, who ended the night with 73 yards on 13 attempts, covered the final 5 yards of the drive and Landon Priest booted the first of his six extra points.